Another day - another cryptolocker infection

All too frequently we are still seeing people being affected by ransomware. It's pernicious and hard to get rid of once you've got it. If you haven't had it, then this is what happens - you open an innocent email and your computer starts to perform a bit sluggishly. Most people shrug this off then go to open a Word Document or Excel Spreadsheet and can't. It has .ENCRYPTED after it and there are files appearing in all your directories on how to pay to get your data decrypted. A sense of doom starts to build in the pit of your stomach and you watch as the files on your network drives start being encrypted too. Hopefully you pull the power plug and call your IT guy at this point. Then the tough stuff begins....

To stop this from happening here are some tips to keeping your PC cryptolocker free:

• don't try to open a zip file emailed to you - if someone is sending one to you, make sure they establish contact first - it's OK to email them back to ask if they meant to send it. Most companies won't send you a zip file with their bills in it - the AGL email that recently infected a number of people is an example of this. They send their bills as a PDF
• hover your mouse over any link in an email *before* clicking it - you'll see the actual address the hyperlink points to when you do this. Just because it says www.google.com/alkajsdflkjadf doesn't mean it actually points there. The hyperlink goes around the text to send it to the web and it could go anywhere!
• while backups are important, RESTORES are mandatory - a phrase I heard at SAGE-AU years ago and it's still true. There are great free options out there - from Time Machine on the Mac, to CrashPlan across many platforms, Carbonite, ShadowProtect and so on. Get one, have a backup to a USB drive, and then to another USB drive - a bit of a pain to cycle through the backups, but what is your data worth to you? It's a sad situation that most people won't have the faintest idea until every word document they've ever written is encrypted and carries an $800USD price tag to decrypt it. Put an entry in your calendar to backup and do it. 
• did I mention backups? Let me reiterate - back up your data! Test the backup! Have it disconnected from the network and don't rely on a single data storage place to back up to. If that gets corrupted (and I've seen it happen) - it's still all over
• go slower when you are readying your emails. Take your time to really check what you've got and why they want you to click on that shiny, interesting looking link. Phishing emails, cryptolocker and other infections are just a mouse click away....

It's a dangerous world, opening up an email program on your computer or a web browser. You never know where it will take you or the risks that it will entail. You can be safe, if you exercise some commonsense!

Financial Bail out

For anyone in the money markets the last month or so has been a devastating one. I've been reading a bit about the way this whole thing started, with the bad debts in the USA and how this is now flowing on to the rest of the world. The biggest thing that irks me is the lack of responsibility being taken by people.

Take the people at the bottom line of things - those people who took out mortgages for homes that they could never effectively repay. Yes, during the first 6 or 12 months when they were paying 1% interest back they could afford it. When the honeymoon was over and their mortgage repayments became what they should be - well then they were screwed and many choose to walk away on their bad debts. Accordingly, the over-priced homes they had bought were then sold for less than the purchase price, so the debt wasn't covered by it and the lenders had to take a write off. Consider the massive inflation in home prices that was caused by all these cheap mortgages and people paying far more than a home was worth. It turns out this is a widespread thing, and it's happening in Australia too.

Deregulation of the financial sector is probably partly to blame, but the greed of these people in the financial sector is more to blame. It's not about responsible stewardship of people's money - it's about how much they can make and how fast they can do it. The major banks here in Australia are posting record profits. The executives are getting massive bonuses. If the market falls here like it has in the US and the Australian government bails them out that is the worst kind of financial mismanagement that there is. The record profits and bonuses should go back into the banks to keep them solvent. The people's money should be protected - both people with money in the banks and the taxpayers who are being asked to foot the bill (and by and large they're the same people).

In the US no-one is taking responsibility for the fall. Bailing them out only serves to indicate that you can do this sort of thing and get away with it. What a load of shit! It's like murdering someone and walking away with the smoking gun in your hand and a nation of witnesses. The US government should be ashamed of themselves. A cleansing needs to happen - all the bad debt, all the bad operators and all the bad investment groups need to be shutdown. That's the point of letting them crumble. Yes there will be some financial hardship for the people with their money tied up in this but it will pass. The cycle will continue and hopefully, the next loop around will be a better one that before. I've always refused to put money in the stock market. I can't see the pay-back on betting on confidence in companies and really, that's what it is. A company can still make products to a high standard but their share price won't reflect that - it'll go up and down based on the most absurd premises - the company's CEO shagged someone else's missus or something ridiculous. I wish I were joking. 

The worst thing that could have been done was to provide a safety net for the people who have caused the financial melt down in it's current state. They are not being held accountable for their actions and I read recently that in the US they are not even being prosecuted! What the fuck!? Let's just allow them to get off without responsibility. I suppose that's the Bush way. I wonder if it will be the Rudd way as well?

US Presidential Primaries

I've been watching with some interest the primaries in the USA. As I understand it, the current mini elections are for the Republicans and Democrats to sort out who they want to have as their candidate for the Presidency. I can't help but notice the biased media reporting. TV, newspapers and radios support the industry favourites - Obama, Clinton, etc while the Internet crowd seems to be massing behind Ron Paul. And I can understand why. Someone who has a track record of consistency, answers questions straightforwardly and doesn't attempt to pass blame off is very attractive the attention limited crowd on the Internet. We don't want to read through the bullshit that some of these cretins are spewing forth. That idiot Giulani should be hung out to dry - is he mental? The leverage for his campaign is 9/11 - a tragedy that was arguably caused by the US intervention into other countries affairs. I was really amused when Ron Paul tried to describe the phenomenon of blowback to this moron. I guess he doesn't get that if you blow up bombs in your neighbour's backyard, sooner or later that dude is going to come back at you with some heavy shit.

And while I'm proselytizing on that issue, I've read a few things suggesting that 9/11 was planned and executed within the US government to give Bush the kind of momentum he needed to suspend all kinds of rights and the like and also to invade Iraq. Well done. I salute him on his planning and execution skills, even though I reckon he didn't have much to do with any of it and someone else planned the lot.

I think it would be nice to have someone who isn't tied up with all the big companies and oil and the presidential dynasty in the US leading that country. Ron Paul seems to be my favourite at the moment. Even though I disagree with some of his policies - for example I think a woman's right to choose an abortion is her business (as Jay in the movie Dogma puts it: "A woman's body is her own fucking business") I like the fact that he has stood by the decisions he's made and makes them in good faith. Good luck to him. Were I American he'd have my vote.

Struggling with Creativity

I had attempted to write each day for December, but it's really not working out. When I want to write is generally when I'm trying to work and the great ideas I have are often swamped by the complexities of my tasks here at the office.

Plus, I'm just finding it damn hard to write something interesting! And this led me to an ongoing thought stream I've had and that I pondered in some depth yesterday. You see, yesterday I watched the movie "The World's Fastest Indian" with Anthony Hopkins in it. Basically, the movie is about a Kiwi fellow by the name of Burt Munro who wants his 1920 model Indian motorcycle to be the fastest of its type in the world. He was focussed on his goal, lived, ate and breathed it and eventually it came to fruition. That passion, that burning desire to achieve a single goal - I don't have that.

Nope, no passion for anything in particular. Even the things I really like doing, if I couldn't do them any more I'd miss them but I'd probably move on without lamenting the fact on a daily basis. While I find this lack of passion somewhat disquieting it does have it's benefits. I find a balanced approach to life is much more easy. There is no sporting team that I love, no vehicle I love and no place I love. Likewise for the myriad other things that people are passionate about. I like certain cars, I like certain places and I enjoy various activities. But I'm not so passionate about it that I'll devote my life to them.

Is this mediocrity? A cover for a lack of self-confidence - a feeling that I can't be the best at anything so why try? I don't think so. As long as I'm giving my best effort I'm happy with the outcome. There is always some place to improve, but I'm not so crazed about it that I'll feel awful for ages afterward. I'd like to think I'm a bit Zen about the whole thing. The variables I can control are my own variables - the effort I'm making, the focus I've got etc. I find that the more passionate I am about something, the more pressure is on me to succeed and less enjoyment I ultimately get from it (even when I am successful).

I think that this could be applied to a few things for many people. Sport is the obvious example. I'm tied up with hockey and the like in my home town and nothing disgusts me more than moron spectators screaming at their kid, or someone else's kid or the umpire for what is happening on the field. There is very rarely a positive slant to these comments and it doesn't serve to help anyone out. Isn't the object to enjoy one's self whilst on the field? Don't we want to encourage our kids to do well - but praise the effort they make, in case the results aren't as wonderful as we expect from our progeny? At least this gives you an out -if they make a big effort but don't get to the line in the manner they/we expect, then you still have something great to say to them. And the effort is the only thing they can really control isn't it?! The results are often dependent on others, the environment or just dumb luck.

I guess I do have a passion after all - a passion for people to be reasonable and to look a bit beyond the moronic behaviour that is so often exhibited in this society. I'm not looking to apportion blame, but rather to suggest that things be considered in a slightly different light.

Expect this post to be edited :-)

Tips for care with computers

Here's a couple that have just sprung to mind:

1. Never send a cranky/sarcastic email without having walked away from it for at least an hour first. You never know how much trouble you'll get yourself into. Of course, as a general rule - never lose your temper until it's detrimental not to lose it.
2. Always check the send to address - autocomplete can do the strangest things if you're not paying attention (oops!)
3. Write short, but meaningful emails. Remember that sometimes a very terse email can convey dissatisfaction or dislike. Write to your audience. There are a lot of guides out there suggesting you should write very short emails - that's OK if it's a high volume environment. Not OK if it's a low volume environment.
4. Water/Coffee/Coke/Beer + computer = bad. So many combinations that are so nasty in so many ways. Also, try to avoid smoking while computing - it really fouls up your keyboard.

And that's all from the brain for this very moment.